At the Soccer Game

Shots from Seoul FC blowing Daegu FC out of the water. I went with my e-friend Tuttle, and had a splendid time. The stadium is great.

The inside is also pretty coo, but the rain scared away most Koreans (it was "foreigners" day)...And some wacky Adjumma decided to watch the second half from the rail, which blocked the view of most of our section!

Leftovers from Typhoon Kompasu

The typhoon two weeks ago beat Korea like a middle-aged wife (oooooouch~)...

The main gate of the school was closed because three trees had fallen across it, and as I traversed the bottom of the campus to get to the subway gate, there were three more trees down.

I got to work and talked to my boss, who had rushed in early that morning as she had left her car at the school overnight... She was pleased to see it had not been hit by anything and moved it to a place unencumbered by overlooking trees.

Then she went to get a relaxing cup of coffee at the on-campus Holly's. At which point an enormous branch snapped off above the Holly's, whomped onto the roof over which she sat, rolled back.. and came down balanced against the glass wall at which she was sitting, branch pointed as though a message from Mother Nature that you can run, but eventually you can't hide!

I, of course, didn't bring my camera til yesterday when everything was cleaned up except off-trail stuff at Namsan, which I took some pictures of.

Here is a standard variety tree fallen across a boy-scout trail.



Here is a more dramatic problem..


And today, when I hiked over to home? It was gone (And now you can see the lovely trees behind it in their "soon to be cut down for being tipped over" glory)!

Me, On the Radio

Take a wander over to KTLIT and click on the lovely link, to hear about a 10 minute interview with me...

Right Here!

Winn3rZ from WiNNrdom!

A grey sprinkly day here, but no so heavy that I couldn't take a ramble in over Namsan. The halmoni were out on the bridge from the Hyatt to Namsan Park, giving away free iced coffee. As soon as that got in the bloodstream the day took on a happier air. Because of the sprinkles, no Koreans to speak of were out (as tough as Koreans are about most things, if they can be sissies about the weather they will go full-sissy at the slightest opportunity).

Walking over Namsan there is a little break to the left with a very green meadow and for some reason it flashed an entirely different picture into my head - the Tuolomne Meadows as you start down towards Yosemite Valley. For the first time in a long time I felt a bit homesick. Can't wait to get back to The Empire in Decay (TED hereafter).

On the getting famous front, an article on me that was going to be in Koreana this fall has been pushed back to the winter issue. No sweat there.

I guest-starred on the maiden broadcast of a radio show called "Bloggers Roundtable" and this has apparently lead to my not only being on that show, but a segment (details are being worked out) on translated Korean lit that will air bi-weekly.

To add a slight frosting of powdered-sugar to all this honey, Kim Young-ha's translator is in town for a conference and has agreed to an interview with me. This will mean I'll have an interview with Kim himself, the review, and and interview with the translator.

If I can't turn that into a publication somewhere decent, I need to turn in my "Weasel: First-Class with Decorative Fringe and Extra Lube' ribbon.

For now, I think the search for more coffee must proceed.

LULz..

My students often wear English T-shirts that they don't quite understand, but this one was cute to me, because it is one of my favorite seminal bands..

LOL - I'm in class with 45 students...

Demonstrating how to use blogger. Thailand pics will go up tonight!

Summer Breaking.. Beauty!

It was hottish today, but windy and clear... a nice enough day to walk into work over Namsan which, despite substantial damage from the Typhoon, was green and practically glowing. The wind was pushing loose leaves, litte branches, dust and other detritus sprung loose by the Typhoon in little circles and then long waves down the asphalt... just a perfect fall day.....

And, my iPod was playing songs that sounded like they had been picked just for me! How weird is that.?

The semester is coming together well.. two classes are kind of cut and dried and the only trauma was that I was told that I was teaching a US/UK culture class when it turned out to be a class in Multi-cultural studies. So I'm kind of scrambling to get that one together, but it just means that I'll have another class totally prepped when this semester ends, since the US/UK one I prepared is pretty perfect.

I was a guest on TVS eFM last night (the English radio station here) and it seems it may lead to a regular spot doing a segment on Korean literature - it also led to a couple of people following me on twitter, which isn't really spectacular news, but it means that someone will be listening.

Now I have to figure out my flights to New Zealand for this December..

Chilling at the Coffee Shop, Watching the Umbrellas go by..

Still tired from two nights ago when the couple downstairs had a knock-down, drag-out fight for about 2 hours, from midnight on.

The wife is Korean and she doesn't handle alcohol very well. She was screaming shit, would run outside, slamming the door, then run back inside slamming the door and toss some of his stuff out the window. Repeat, repeat, repeat. At one point she pounded on their piano. Finally she went downstairs and for about 30 minutes rolled up then slammed down the corrugated metal garage door which covers our motorcyle parking area. All the time hollering incoherently until she finally screamed some understandable (on the language level) but uninterpretable (on the communication level) thing about a "computer" and "tomorrow" at which time she flounced down the rainy street in flip flops, a t-shirt, and her underwear (by this time I was watching out the window).

Yvonne was sick, so most of it passed her by.

Anyway, today the rain continues to bucket down, but as I have a meeting in Apgujeong I had to get out and vace it. Got to Apgujeong a bit early, so I'm watching the multi-colored umbrellas cascade by and enjoying a delicious cup of coffee.

Could be worse.

I could be in San Jose. ^^

This is irony, tragedy, comedy, or some combination

As Elvis the Prophet once sang...

Stuck on the wall with a thousand faces
Unwanted posters of the haunted places

Roll up for the ghost train
Non-stop through the city
Step right up and show your face
We only want the pretty ones
Roll up for the ghost train
Non-stop through the city
Step right up and show your face
We only want the pretty ones

Which leads us to....

'Ghost train' hunter killed by train in North Carolina

A Tip for Terrorists

Flying in from Thailand to Korea we listened, for the 100th time for some of us, to the request to turn off our electrical devices as they interfere with instruments during landing (instruments that are apparently more robust when we are 35,000 feet in the air).

So.. next time you want to bring a plane down?

Just get about 50 of you on a plane, and just as descent (or take0ff begins)?

You all switch your cell-phones and iPods on at once.

You're welcome!

And if you see me on a flight I hope you will remember that I am working for you and your Muslin brothers, and bringing that flight down will stop me from further contributing to the cause!